Barracks emperor

Aureus of Probus (r. 276–282), showing him in armour

A barracks emperor (also called a "soldier emperor") was a Roman emperor who seized power by virtue of his command of the army. Barracks emperors were especially common from 235 to 284 AD, during the Crisis of the Third Century, which began with the assassination of Severus Alexander. Beginning with Maximinus Thrax, there were approximately fourteen barracks emperors in 33 years, which produced an average reign of a little over two years apiece. The resulting instability in the imperial office and the nearly-constant state of civil war and insurrection threatened to destroy the Roman Empire from within and left it vulnerable to attack from external adversaries.

Background

The barracks emperors tended to be low-class commoners, often from outlying parts of the empire. The first barracks emperor, Maximinus Thrax, had begun his military career as an enlisted soldier. A barracks emperor could not boast of a distinguished family name or a successful career as a statesman or public servant. Rather, he had only his military career to recommend himself, and his only influence had been though the soldiers loyal to his command.

Some of the soldier emperors were members of the equestrian class who had worked their way up to a sufficient position of influence within their legion that the soldiers would support a bid for power, but that was a risky undertaking because those soldiers could withdraw their support at any time and perhaps shift it to another military leader who looked more promising at the time.

Because the barracks emperors were frequently border commanders, the act of overthrowing the reigning emperor and seizing power for themselves left large gaps in the empire's border defences that could be exploited by Rome's enemies. That led to the Germanic incursion into Roman territory in the 260s and resulted in the construction of the Aurelian Walls around Rome. The barracks emperors also used state money to pay their troops since no emperor who had come into power by force of arms could afford to allow his soldiers to become disaffected, and public works and infrastructure fell into ruin. To accommodate the vast demands of buying off their soldiers, the state often simply seized private property, which damaged the economy and drove up inflation.

Transition to Dominate era

In 284, a barracks emperor, Diocletian, a cavalry commander, seized power. Diocletian instituted a number of reforms designed to stabilize the empire and the imperial office, brought an end to the Crisis of the Third Century and inaugurated the Dominate era of Roman history.

Although further emperors would don the purple on the basis of military power (such as Constantine I, Valentinian I, and Theodosius I) the phenomenon of the barracks emperors died out, to be replaced in the late imperial era by shadow emperors like Stilicho, Constantius III, Flavius Aëtius, Avitus, Ricimer, Gundobad, Flavius Orestes and Odoacer. They were military strongmen who effectually ruled the empire as imperial generalissimos controlling weak-willed puppet emperors, rather than taking the title themselves.

List

Reign	Incumbent	Notes
February/March 235 to March/April 238	Maximinus Thrax	Murdered by his own troops
early 238	Gordian I	Governor in Africa, declared co-emperor with his son Gordian II by popular demand. Committed suicide after defeat in battle against the governor of Numidia
early January/March 238 to late January/April 238	Gordian II	Son of and co-emperor with Gordian I. Killed in battle against the governor of Numidia
April to July 238	Pupienus and Balbinus	Senators elected as co-emperors by Roman Senate upon the failure of the African rebellion. Murdered by the Praetorians
May 238 to February 244	Gordian III	Grandson of Gordian I – elected by Senate at 13. Either killed in battle against Persians under Shapur I in modern-day Iraq (Roman histories do not mention the battle) or murdered by the Praetorian Prefect Philip, who succeeded him as Philip the Arab
240 to 240	Sabinianus	Proclaimed himself emperor; defeated in battle and surrendered to the imperial authorities by his own supporters
February 244 to September/October 249	Philip the Arab	Killed in battle by Decius near modern-day Verona
248 to 248	Pacatianus	Proclaimed himself emperor; murdered by his own soldiers
248 to 248	Jotapian	Claimant; murdered by his own soldiers
248 to 248	Silbannacus	Usurper, likely held brief control of the mint in Rome
249 to June 251	Decius	Appointed by Philip the Arab to defeat Pacantius. Proclaimed emperor by the Danubian armies. Killed in battle against the Goths
249 to 252	Priscus	Proclaimed himself emperor in the Eastern provinces with Gothic support
250 to 250	Licinianus	Claimant
early 251 to 1 July 251	Herennius Etruscus	Co-emperor with his father Decius. Killed in battle against Goths
251 to 251	Hostilian	Younger brother of Herennius Etruscus, whom he succeeded as emperor. His authority did not extend far beyond Rome, where he soon died in an outbreak of plague
June 251 to August 253	Gallus	Proclaimed emperor by the army after the deaths of Decius and Herennius Etruscus. Co-ruled with his son Volusianus. Murdered by his own soldiers
July 251 to August 253	Volusianus	Co-emperor with his father Trebonianus Gallus. Murdered by his own soldiers
August 253 to October 253	Aemilian	Governor of Moesia Superior and Pannonia who defeated a Gothic army and was proclaimed emperor by his soldiers. Murdered by his own soldiers when they saw that they could not defeat the army of Valerian, who came to avenge Trebonianus Gallus
253 to June 260	Valerian	Governor of the Rhine provinces. Co-emperor with Gallienus; captured by Persians: died in captivity
253 to September 268	Gallienus	Co-emperor with Valerian 253 to 260, sole emperor from 260 to 268; murdered
258 or June 260	Ingenuus	Proclaimed himself emperor
260	Regalianus	Proclaimed emperor
260 to 261	Macrianus Major	Proclaimed emperor; lost and killed in battle
260 to 261	Quietus	Claimant
261 to 261 or 262	Mussius Aemilianus	Proclaimed emperor
268 to 268	Aureolus	Proclaimed himself emperor; surrendered to Claudius II Gothicus

See also

• Low Roman Empire